1. Field
This invention relates to muscle exercise, specifically to exercise of the facial muscles.
2. Related Art
Exercise produces a profound effect upon the size and strength of skeletal muscle. It is known that exercise induces synthesis of muscle contractile proteins causing hypertrophy, which is an increase in size of muscle. As muscles grow larger they become more closely apposed to the external surface, creating tightness in the overlying skin and tissues. This can generate pleasing esthetic effects, producing firm arms and abdominal walls for example and combating the age-associated process of muscle atrophy. It is also known that exercise increases the metabolic demands of the exercising muscle and leads to an increased blood supply to the muscle(s) being trained. As metabolic demands increase, subcutaneous fat stores are utilized and reduced in size. Standard exercise regimes often ignore the muscles of the face, and the only exercise the facial muscles receive is through activities of daily living such as chewing food or making facial expressions. These activities alone are sufficient to maintain facial muscle strength at a baseline level, but more focused exercise using resistance training is required to generate the significant increases in facial muscle size requisite for an observable esthetic benefit.
Previous inventors have taken a variety of approaches to the problem of providing an efficient means of exercising the facial muscles. One of the primary deficiencies of devices in the related art is that they fail to take into account the great lateral mobility of the jaw. In the action of chewing food, the jaw does not simply open and close in an up-and-down motion but also moves laterally side-to-side. Many people have jaws that are imperfectly aligned and are forced to move either their upper or lower jaw laterally in order to completely close the jaw. A second deficiency of these devices is failure to provide adequate proportions of isotonic contraction of the facial muscles. In exercising a muscle with the goal of building muscle size, it is important not only that the muscle contract against a resistance, but also that it be allowed to shorten during its contractile cycle. A muscle contraction in which the muscle contracts and increases tension but does not change in length is called an isometric contraction. A muscle contraction in which a muscle contracts and changes in length but does not change in tension is called an isotonic contraction. Isotonic contractions are preferred over isometric contractions in muscle building for a variety of reasons, such as limited blood flow to a muscle during an isometric contraction.